Coil and spool transfer buggy



July 23, 1968 T. w. NASH 3,393,831

COIL AND SPOOL TRANSFER BUGGY Filed June 21. 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 L ZOmJ QGZb i I" "I Mm,"

65 ll Q Ill Fig/ Terry W. Nash BY HIS 1 A T TORNE Y8 July 23, 1968 T. w. NASH 3,393,881

COIL AND SPOOL TRANSFER BUGGY Filed June 21, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Terry W Nash BY HIS A TTORNE Y5 July 23, 1968 T. w. NASH COIL AND SPOOL TRANSFER BUGGY 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 21 1967 INVENTOR. Terry W Alas/7 HIS ATTORNEYS July 23, 1968 T. w. NASH 3,393,881

COIL AND SPOOL TRANSFER BUGGY Filed June 21, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 v 27L2\KLZ/ r F ml 7| 1 3211 V 111 m; ll 25; 73 VS 44 I}. I! I Z v 45 I" H] f 43 .H I. 4O v Fig. 6 I

INVENTOR.

Terry W Nash BY 144mm! HIS A TTORNE Y5 United States Patent 3,393,881 COIL AND SPOOL TRANSFER BUGGY Terry W. Nash, East Palestine, Ohio, assignor to L. W. Nash Company, East Palestine, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed June 21, 1967, Ser. No. 647,769 14 Claims. (Cl. 242--79) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A movable buggy having a rotatable and vertically adjustable bed divided into sections for carrying a coil and an empty coil spool to transfer a coil from a tension reel to a coil storage area and to transfer an empty spool from a spool storage ramp to the tension reel for winding another coil.

This invention relates to apparatus for handling a coil of strip and an empty coil spool upon which another coil of strip is to be wound and more particularly to a buggy for transferring a coil and the spool upon which it is wound from a tension reel to a coil storage area and transferring an empty spool from a storage ramp to the tension reel and placing it in position on the reel.

Relatively light gauge strip is often wound into a coil on a spool carried by a rotatable mandrel on a tension reel located at the end of the strip line. The mandrel is driven at high speeds and as it rotates the strip is wound onto the spool until a coil of the desired diameter is formed. After the coil is wound onto the spool, the coil and spool must be removed from the mandrel and transferred to a storage area or storage car to await shipment or further processing. Since the spool is removed along with the strip, it is necessary to place another spool in position on the tension reel before the next coil can be formed. Since the tension reel is located at the end of a high speed strip line, it is important to remove the coil from the mandrel and replace it with an empty spool in the shortest possible time to avoid interruption of the strip line. The empty spools weigh from about 500 pounds to 1,000 pounds; and, therefore, it is necessary to utilize mechanical means for transporting the spools to the reel and inserting them on the mandrel.

My invention provides a unitary buggy for handling both empty spools and coils in such a manner that a rapid and eflicient exchange of an empty spool for a full spool may be accomplished. The buggy has two sections for simultaneously carrying both an empty spool and a coil, and an empty spool may be placed on the mandrel for immediate winding of the next coil as soon as the coil is removed from the mandrel. My novel buggy minimizes interruption between the winding of successive coils. Additionally, the use of my coil and spool handling buggy makes it possible to handle both coils and empty spools without requiring an overhead crane which is advantageous as the crane is free for other work. The buggy is compact and, therefore, requires very little operating space which is advantageous since more space may be used for coil and empty spool storage.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown preferred embodiments of my invention in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the arrangement of a tension reel, a spool storage ramp, a coil storage car and a coil and spool handling buggy;

FIG. 2 is a section on line IIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section on line III-III of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an elevation showing the spool storage ramp and buggy;

FIG. 5 is a partial vertical section showing a mechanism for moving the bed of the buggy; and

ice

FIG. 6 is a partial vertical section showing an alternative mechanism for moving the bed of the buggy; and

FIG. 7 is a section on line VII-VII of FIG. 6.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the tension reel is designated T, the buggy B, the inclined ramp for storing empty spools R, and the spools S. A rail mounted coil storage car which receives coils from buggy B is designated A and the coils C. As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the tension reel includes an expansible mandrel 1 of well known design which extends toward the coil storage car. The mandrel is operatively connected with an electric motor M through any well known gear drive arrangement and is rotated by the motor to wind strip onto the spool carried on the mandrel. After a coil has been wound on the spool, the mandrel is collapsed and the spool and coil are removed from the mandrel by buggy B. Stripper plate 2 which is actuated by a rod 3 assists in removing the coil from the mandrel in a manner well known to those skilled in the art. The removal of the coil and spool from the mandrel is described in detail hereinafter.

The buggy is shown in FIGS. 25 of the drawings and consists of a base 20 carrying an outer member 40 at its center and axles 21 and 22 at its ends. Flanged wheels 23 are carried on axles 21 and 22 for moving the buggy along spaced rails 4. Member 40 extends downwardly through base 20 into a recess 5 formed in the floor of the shop, and webs 41 extend between member 40 and base 20 to rigidly hold the vertical member in position. The upper portion of recess 5 is for-med at its opposite edges with offset portions 6, and rails 4 are positioned in parallel relationship in the offset portions. A stub shaft 42 extends from the upper end of a lifting member 45 which is located within outer member 40, and the bed 24 of the buggy is attached to shaft 42 and to a plate 53 located at the upper end of the shaft.

The bed of the buggy is divided into a coil carrying section and a spool carrying section. The coil carrying section consists of spaced parallel arms 25 and 26 having angled surfaces 27 and 28 facing the center line of the carrying bed. The angled surfaces of the arms form a cradle to remove a coil from the tension reel and transport it to the coil storage car A where it is placed on saddles carried by the car. The arms 25 and 26 must be spaced sufficiently to embrace the saddles on car A so that a coil may be lowered onto the saddle. While I have shown arms for removing a coil from the tension reel it should be understood that bearing mounted rollers may be substituted for arms 25 and 26; and in many instances rollers are preferred since they minimize damage to the outer wrap of the coil. The spool carrying section of buggy B consists of a substantially V-shaped bottom member 29 and a wall 30 extending upwardly from one top edge of the bottom member. The bottom member and wall 30 form a receptacle which is open at the top. The longitudinal edge of the bottom member opposite wall 30 is lower than the upper edge of the wall so that when a spool is indexed from the ramp in the manner shown in dotted lines in FIG. 4, the spool will roll over the edge of the bottom member and contact the wall and be guided into the receptacle. The contact surfaces of bottom member 29 and wall 30 are covered by wear plates 31 to protect them when a spool is rolled into the bottom member. A vertical wall 32 extends laterally across the buggy to separate the spool and coil carrying sections, and the surface of this wall which faces the coil carrying section is covered by a Wear plate 33 for contact with the end of the coil and/ or spool when a. coil is removed from the mandrel.

The carrying bed of the buggy is raised and lowered as required for coil and empty spool handling by means of a hydraulic cylinder 43 mounted on the base of outer member 40 in the manner shown in FIG. 5 of the drawings. A rod 44 having a threaded upper end extends upwardly from cylinder 43 and is attached to a square lift member 45 by means of a cross member 45' and a nut 46. Member 45 is dimensioned to slide within outer member 40 and carries a bearing assembly 47 including bearings 48 at its upper end.

The bed of the buggy may be rotated by the arrangement shown in FIG. 5 which includes a stub shaft 42 having a smaller diameter portion 42 extending into a bearing assembly 47 and rotatably carried by bearings 48. A gear 49 is attached to stub shaft 42 at the lower end of the larger portion thereof. Gear 49 is driven by a gear 50 which is carried on the upper end of the vertical drive shaft extending from a motor 52. The motor is mounted on a bracket 51 which is attached to the upper end of lift member 45. Support plate 53 is welded to the upper end of stub shaft 42 and bed 24 is welded to the stub shaft and to the plate. Since gears 49 and 50 and motor 52 are carried by lift member 45, they mov vertically when member 45 is moved vertically relative to member 40 by cylinder 43 and rod 44. The position of motor 52 is not critical, and it could be mounted on the upper surface of cross member 45' with its drive shaft extending through the bottom of bearing assembly 47 and in operative engagement with shaft 42 to rotate the shaft.

An alternative arrangement for rotating the bed 24 is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. In this arrangement the lift mechanism is the same as that shown in FIG. 5, and like reference numerals are used to describe like parts. The mechanism for rotating the bed comprises a ring gear 70 mounted on an annular bearing race 71 carried on a support shelf welded to the upper end of lift member 45. An annular support ring 72 is carried on ring gear 70 and bed 24 rests on ring 72. The ring gear is rotated by a drive gear 73 mounted on the drive shaft of motor 74 and located eccentrically of the center line of the center line of lift member 45 as shown in FIG. 7. Motor 74 is carried by a bracket 75 which is attached to cross member 45. Rotation of gear 73 drives ring gear 70 to rotate the bed; and since the mechanism is carried on the lift member, it will be raised and lowered by operation of cylinder 43.

Ramp R is provided with a spool index mechanism at the lower end of the inclined bed as shown in the broken away portion of FIG. 4. The index mechanism consists of a pair of spaced cam members 61 and 62 rigidly attached to shaft 63 for rotation therewith. The cam members have the same configuration and operate in the same manner, and the description of cam member 61 applies to cam member 62. A hydraulic cylinder 64 is pivotally attached at its lower end to the ramp base and at its upper end it is pivotally attached to a bifurcated link 65. The other end of link 65 is rigidly attached to shaft 63 so that the shaft may be rotated in bearing blocks 66 and 67 upon rotation of link 65 by cylinder 64. As can be seen in FIG. 4, cam 61 is dimensioned in such a manner that when the cam arm 61a is in the vertical position, it acts as a bumper to stop the spools from rolling off the inclined bed 60 of ramp R. When cams 61 and 62 are rotated about the axis of shaft 63 by means of cylinder 64 and link 65, cam arms 61b and 6211 will lift the lowermost spool S; and after the arms rotate approximately 90, the spool will roll off the cam arms 61a and 62a into member 29 on buggy B as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 4. Due tothe shape of the curved outer edge of arms 62b and 62b, the next spool is not permitted to roll into the discharge position on inclined bed 60 until the cams have returned 90 to the rest position.

Both buggy B and storage car A are moved along their tracks by hydraulic cylinders and rods. The rod 7 for moving buggy B is shown broken away in FIG. 1,

and the storage car rod is designated 8 in FIG. 1 and is actuated by cylinder 9. Although hydraulic cylinders and rods are shown for moving the buggy and the car along their tracks, it is to be understood that other power arrangements such as electric motors may be used for this purpose. Similarly, the hydraulic cylinder 64 for rotating shaft 63 to move cams 61 and 62 to index the spools into buggy B may be replaced by a gear drive arrangement.

The operation of my novel coil and spool handling buggy is described hereinafter with reference to FIG. 1 of the drawings. Assuming that a coil has been wound on the tension reel and is ready to be removed from mandrel 1, the buggy is moved toward the tension reel until arms 25 and 26 are located beneath the coil and the end of the mandrel is adjacent wear plate 33 of partition 32 of the buggy. When the buggy is in this position, the bed is raised until surfaces 27 and 23 of the arms contact the lower portion of the coil. At this time the mandrel is collapsed and the weight of the coil rests entirely upon arms 25 and 26. The buggy is now moved away from the tension reel, and at the same time stripper plate 2 is extended to contact the coil and maintain it in proper position as it is removed from the mandrel by movement of the buggy away from the tension reel. After the end of the spool has cleared the mandrel, bed 24 is rotated about the center line of outer member 40 and is raised until the axis of the spool carried on member 29 is aligned with the axis of the mandrel. When the axes are aligned, the buggy is moved toward the tension reel and the spool is slipped over the mandrel and the mandrel is expanded against the inside of the spool. The bed of the buggy is then lowered and the buggy is moved away from the tension reel toward car A.

The buggy with the coil carried on arms 25 and 26 and the spool receptacle empty is moved along tracks 4 until arms 25 and 26 embrace an empty saddle on car A at which point the bed is lowered until the bottom of the coil contacts the saddle. When the coil is being placed upon a saddle, member 29 is in the position shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings and is ready to receive an empty spool from ramp R. Cylinder 64 is raised to rotate shaft 63 and actuate cams 61 and 62 and a spool is indexed into the buggy. The buggy is then moved along tracks 4 into an intermediate position between ramp R and tension reel T at which point it is rotated through 180 to locate arms 25 and 26 in position to remove the next coil from the tension reel. As soon as the coil is wound, it will be removed by arms 25 and 26 and the empty spool will be placed on the mandrel in the manner described heretofore.

My invention has a number of important features which make it possible to move a coil quickly from a tension reel to a storage car or other storage area and to carry an empty spool from a spool storage area to the tension reel for mounting on the reel mandrel for winding of another coil. The buggy is constructed to handle different sized spools and coils in order to permit flexibility of operation.

While I have shown and described preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that it may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

'1. In combination with a tension reel, a spool storage ramp and a coil storage car, the invention comprising a track having parallel rails extending between said tension reel and said storage car and adjacent to said spool storage ramp and a coil and spool transfer buggy, said buggy including a base member carrying wheels riding on said rails to move said buggy along said track, a bed having a first section for carrying a coil and a second section for carrying a coil spool, and means mounting said bed on said base member for vertical and rotational movement of said bed relative to said base member, whereby said buggy transfers coils from said tension reel to said storage car and transfers empty spools from said ramp to said tension reel.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein said first section for carrying a coil includes spaced parallel horizontally extending members for contacting the periphery of a coil to support said coil.

3. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein said first section for carrying a coil comprises a pair of spaced substantially horizontally extending parallel arms, each of said arms being formed with an angular surface facing the center line of said bed, the angular surfaces of said arms cooperating to form a cradle for supporting a coil, whereby a coil may be removed from said tension reel and transferred to said storage car on said arms.

4. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein said second section for carrying an empty spool comprises an elongated substantially V-shaped bottom member having an open top and a vertical member extending upwardly from one elongated edge of said bottom member, the other elongated edge of said bottom member being lower than the upper edge of said vertical member, whereby a spool rolled from said ramp rolls over said other edge and into said V-shaped bottom member for transfer to said tension reel.

5. A buggy for carrying coils and coil spools comprising a base member, a plurality of wheels mounted on said base member, an elongated unitary bed having a first section for carrying a coil and a second section for carrying a spool, and means mounting said bed on said base member for vertical and rotational movement of said bed relative to said base member.

6. A buggy as set forth in claim 5 wherein said first section for carrying a coil includes a pair of spaced paralel horizontally extending members for contacting the periphery of a coil to support said coil.

7. A buggy as set forth in claim '5 wherein said first section for carrying a coil comprises a pair of elongated spaced substantially parallel arms, each of said arms being formed with an angular surface facing the center line of said elongated bed, whereby said angular surfaces are adapted to contact a portion of the outer circumference of a coil to support the coil.

8. A buggy as set forth in claim 5 wherein said second section for carrying a spool comprises an elongated substantially V-shaped bottom member having an open top and a first open end, a wall at the other end of said bottom member to separate said second section from said first section, and a vertical member extending upwardly from an elongated upper edge of said bottom member, whereby said vertical member is adapted to guide a spool into the bottom member.

9. A buggy as set forth in claim 5 wherein said first section comprises a pair of spaced substantially parallel arms, each of said arms being formed with an angular surface facing the center line of said elongated bed and wherein said second section comprises an elongated substantially V-shaped bottom member having an open top and a first open end, a wall at the other end of said bottom member separating said first and second sections, and a vertical member extending upwardly from one elongated edge of said bottom member, whereby a coil may be carried on the angular surfaces of said arms and a spool may be carried in said bottom member.

'10. A buggy as set forth in claim 5 wherein said means mounting said bed on said base member includes a hollow outer member attached to said base member and extending perpendicularly thereto, a hollow lift member having a lower portion located within said outer member, means for moving said lift member vertically relative to said outer member, a stub rotatably mounted within the upper end of said lift member, and attached to said bed, and means for rotating said stub shaft and said bed relative to said lift member and said outer member.

11. A buggy as set forth in claim 10 wherein said means for rotating said stub shaft and said bed includes a first gear attached to said stub shaft, an electric motor mounted on said lift member having a drive shaft, and a second gear attached to said drive shaft and in driving relation with said first gear, whereby operation of said motor rotates said second gear to drive said first gear and rotate said stub shaft and said bed.

12. A buggy as set forth in claim 10 wherein said outer member includes a base and said means for moving said lift member comprises a hydraulic cylinder mounted within said outer member on said base and having an upwardly extending rod, a cross member attached within said lift member, and means attaching said rod to said cross member, whereby actuation of said hydraulic cylinder moves said rod vertically to move said lift member and said bed relative to said outer member.

13. A buggy as set forth in claim 5 wherein said means mounting said bed on said base member includes a hollow outer member attached to said base member and extending perpendicularly thereto, a hollow lift member having a lower portion within said outer member, means for moving said lift member relative to said outer member, a rotatable ring gear at the upper end of said lift member and attached to said bed and means for rotating said ring gear and said bed relative to said lift member.

'14. A buggy as set forth in claim 13 wherein said ring gear is carried in an annular bearing race supported on said lift member and said means for rotating said ring gear includes an electric motor carried by said lift member having a drive shaft, and a drive gear attached to said drive shaft and in driving relation with said ring gear, whereby rotation of said drive gear rotates said ring gear and said bed.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/ 1961 OBrien 24279 7/ 1962 Erskine 24279 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3 ,393 ,881 July 23, 1968 Terry W. Nash It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 3, line 69, "62b and 62b" should read 61b and 62b Column 6, line 13, "stub" should read stub shaft Signed and sealed this 23rd day of December 1969.

(SEAL) Attest:

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR. 

